Cohesao

As of March 7th I have officially been in Zobue for three months.  In celebration of that accomplishment (and the fact that we can now leave the province) all the volunteers in the central region met for the annual Cohesao reunion at Casa Msika.  Casa Msika is a lovely lodge outside of the Chimoio, the capital city of Manica, the province south of Tete.  Travel to Casa Msika from Zobue is a full day--Emma and I left Zobue at 7 am and didn't arrive in Msika until 6pm.  I counted a full 7 types of transportation we took during the journey and we still counted it a very successful travel day.  It was tiring travelling all the way down to Chimoio on Friday and travelling all the way back on Sunday, but it was worth it.  The lodge was gorgeous, it was great to see other volunteers, and I got to see quite a bit of wildlife.  It is weekends like that when I really appreciate how lucky I am to be living here in Mozambique.

The lovely pool and view from the main area of the lodge.

This is an animal called a dykka (I have no idea how to spell that).  It turned out the lodge was also a small nature reserve.  It had a few of these animals in a large enclosure close to the lodge and other animals such as zebra, wildebeest, and giraffe in a much larger, more wild area.

They also had crocodiles in an enclosure (separate from the dykka).

There were also a ton of these amazing bird nests and we even got to watch some being built.

Jeff, Thelma, and Carly outside the crocodile enclosure.

All the Tete volunteers showing off our awesome shirts.

On our second night we were able to get a ride up the hill to try and find the giraffes.  We got to see an amazing sunset...and oh yeah, giraffes too!

We got to see a family with a 6 month old baby.  With the gorgeous sunset in the background it can't get much better than this.

Ata

New fruit of the month: atas!  These fruits are nothing like anything I've ever eaten before.  They are currently Emma's favorite Mozambican fruit, but they are actually too sweet for me.

To eat an ata, just split it in half and eat the fruit around the big black seeds.

I'd say the taste is kind of like brown sugar--very sweet.

Bonus: You can use the seeds to play mancala once you're done eating.

Neighbor Friends

We've become friendly with a lot of our neighbors, but there is one family in our neighborhood we've become particularly close with.  All the kids are incredibly well mannered, sweet and thoughtful and I love having them around.  There are 6 kids total: Sylvia (17), Albertina (15), Januario (13), Celia (9?), Celene (6), and Acontece (2).  We see the parents infrequently, but the kids are over at our house all the time.  Albertina has been particularly generous--she has been over a few evenings recently to teach us to cook couve (large green leafy vegetable) and squash.   The other morning she made squash for us at her house and invited us over there to eat it.  She even set the table for us.  This is same family whose house I went to to watch Rihanna music videos.  I am constantly amazed by their generosity.  It's nice to feel like we have some friends in the neighborhood.  

This is Celene (6).  She looked so adorable in her overalls I couldn't resist taking a photo.

Celso (cousin and neighbor to these guys), Albertina, and Celia on the night Albertina taught us how to make couve.

Sylvia getting help with her math homework. Doesn't she have the best smile?

Emma carrying Aconte (2).  He's almost too big for the capulana sling!

Cooking the couve

I forget how small Mozambicans are and then I see a picture of myself with Albertina and I look like I giant!

Mmm, couve!

The little kiddos on the porch

New Mailing Address

I opened a PO Box in Mwanza, the town in Malawi just across the border.  It will be much easier for me to check this PO Box than the one in Chimoio since it is only 20 minutes away instead of 6 hours away.  My mom sent me some letters and they got here in just a few weeks so we're good to go!

Here is the mailing address:
Sienna Laughton
Box 81
Mwanza, Malawi

Thank you to everyone who has sent me mail--I love getting it! And now that I know where the post office is in Malawi I hope to start sending some mail as well!